Due to complaints about the dumbing down of RPG elements in ME2 - complaints that naturally surfaced only like a month after the initial wave of perfect reviews - Bioware sets new goals for ME3.

The streamlined gameplay and GUI of Mass Effect 2 made it a huge critical success, but Norman pointed out some major criticisms from vocal members of the official BioWare forums. Threads titled "Mass Effect 2 is not an RPG" and "Gears of War with interactive dialogue" were highlighted as examples of fans disappointed by the strong shooting focus of the second game.

As with the transition from the first Mass Effect to the second, BioWare is taking these criticisms to heart for the third game, with Norman hoping the third will offer "richer RPG features" and "more combat options." What we can probably expect less of, however, is the mining minigame, which Norman described as the part that "nobody liked."

So mining is out, huh? Because nobody liked it, huh? Here's a hint: it's because it will hurt you physically. If I was you, BioWare, I would just force the inventor of that minigame to mine every single planet in the game, one after another, so that he'd plenty of opportunities to become fully aware of HOW AWESOME this minigame really is.

And enriching the character system, so that it at least remotely resembles a character system you'd expect from an ARPG, is certainly a welcome idea. The absence of hour-long tedious and boring grinds in ME2 was an improvement though.

The new DLC adds a brand new squad mate, Kasumi, who happens to be a master thief. She's looking to steal something priceless from a local muckity muck and she needs Commander Shepard's help to do it.

Unlike the vast majority of the missions in "Mass Effect 2," the PDLC will be much less combat-focused, at least to start. Shepard needs to infiltrate a high society party in order to get close to the object of Kasumi's desire, locked away in an underground vault underneath a mansion.

I wonder how a *master thief* plays in a game without thieving skills. Probably like everyone else, except she has the invisibility-spell from the infiltrator class or something.